NEW DELHI: In the biggest deal in two years, Sun Pharmaceutical Industries today announced it will fully acquire rival Ranbaxy Laboratories in an all-stock transaction valued at USD 3.2 billion.

Sun Pharma and Ranbaxy said they will become the largest pharmaceutical company in India, with an estimated combined revenue of USD 4.2 billion, and the fifth-largest specialty generics company in the world.

Ranbaxy, controlled by Daiichi Sankyo of Japan, is struggling with quality compliance issues as all four of its plants in India have been banned by the Food and Drug Administration from exporting products to the US. Sun’s Karkhadi plant is also barred from shipping products to the US for violation of good manufacturing norms.

As per their agreement, Ranbaxy shareholders will get 0.8 share of Sun Pharma for each share of Ranbaxy, representing an implied value of Rs 457 for each Ranbaxy share.

This is at a premium of 18 per cent to Ranbaxy’s 30-day volume-weighted average share price and a premium of 24.3 per cent to Ranbaxy’s 60-day volume-weighted average share price, in each case, as of the close of business on April 4, 2014.

“The transaction has a total equity value of approximately USD 3.2 billion,” the two companies said in a joint statement.

The combined entity will have operations in 65 countries, 47 manufacturing facilities across five continents, and a significant platform of speciality and generic products marketed globally, including 629 ANDAs (abbreviated new drug applications).

Recent big-ticket acquisitions in the Indian pharma sector include Mylan Laboratories acquiring Agila Specialities from Strides Arcolab for USD 1.75 billion in 2013 and Torrent Pharma buying the formulations business of Elder Pharma in India and Nepal for Rs 2,000 crore. -PTI